The Second Time Can Be The Charm

How to make the most of your second marathon

Your first marathon will always hold a special place in your treasure trove of running memories. I ran my first at age 24, after 10 years of scholastic and road-race competition; the 1994 Atlanta Marathon remains my slowest 26.2-miler out of more than a dozen finishes, yet I have more scrapbook entries from that race than from most of the others put together, and still view it as one of my greatest running triumphs.

That said, the undeniable vigor of a first marathon – not just the race itself but the months of training, experimentation, uncertainty and general ups-and-downs preceding it – potentially poses something of an obstacle to future endeavors. With a marathon finally in the bag, the last thing most runners can imagine in the immediate aftermath is going through exactly the same thing again, no matter how positive an experience the maiden voyage might have been. You want to bask in your achievement, and rightfully so. But if you decide to do a second marathon, it can often be as rewarding as your first, especially because many runners set big new personal bests the second time around.

Second Helpings

When you are ready to look forward, Reebok Aggies coach and two-time Olympic trials marathon qualifier Joe Rubio advises that you may not want to think about your first marathon much at all. "[When] a runner has a great first outing," Rubio says, "odds favor the second one falling short of expectations." The problem, Rubio explains, is expecting to feel great the second time out, so that when things are actually more difficult than a runner has imagined, he or she thinks, "What did I do wrong?" and confronts a race that's more work than fun. Complacency in training can become an issue as well. "If a person has a great first marathon experience, I would caution against taking the event for granted and approach the prep with the same focus and drive as the first one instead of taking the 'I got this event nailed' attitude," says Rubio.

On the other hand, when an athlete falls well short of expectations on the first try, Rubio says that it's probably a good idea to consult a trusted training partner or a local coach for ideas as to why. "Have them look over your training and try to determine if the athlete was over-baked going into the marathon, if the training lacked a key element or if the athlete didn't have enough lead-up races to determine fitness and improve racing skills," Rubio advises.Better With Age

Fortunately, in gunning for a follow-up marathon, you won't, strictly speaking, have to repeat the past. Experience is a tricky but inimitable teacher, and if you learn properly from your first marathon – no matter what your expectations going in and the result – your second marathon can be just as powerful a journey, and likely a much faster one as well.

The latter two points should serve as your greatest motivation for not hanging up your marathon shoes after a single outing. Once you've decided to give a follow-up marathon a shot, here's what to plan for and how to ensure that your transition from newbie to veteran is as smooth as an often-rough race allows.